Green Room (2016)

Green Room is one of those movies you want to forget but you’re also doomed to remember it and that’s a good thing.  Green Room involves a heavy metal band that while on tour takes a gig at a skinhead club.  A skinhead club to the best of my knowledge is a group where white supremacist Nazi sympathizers spend their time.  The band plays their gig at the club but unfortunately one of them sees something they are not supposed and thus they get on the bad side of the very people they want to avoid upsetting.

The cast for this film is very small and only features two names people may recognize Anton Yelchin and Sir Patrick Stewart.  Both of these men perform exquisitely in their roles.  Yelchin is a member of the band named Pat that witnesses the unfortunate incident and Sir Patrick Stewart is the leader of the white supremacist group named Darcy that is trying to get the band to cooperate with them.

The thing I love most about smaller independent feature is that if their film is tightly plotted and small in scope the film has an excellent chance at being an enjoyable watch.  I cannot safely claim that this film which combines horror and thriller elements was enjoyable watch, but what I will say is that once the set up ended and the pace began to accelerate this film was a thrill from the ascending climax all the way through to its conclusion.

My favorite thing about this film is that it begs the audience to make assumptions and once those assumptions are made it is positively name biting to find out whether the made assumptions are completely incorrect biases against characters or genuinely great psychoanalysis of who audiences have come across so far in the story.  I think it’s deeply entertaining when a horror thriller causes you to think that much about what you are watching.

Green Room excels at one area in particular and that is its ability to play with our expectations.  At the age of 29 I have now seen a sufficient enough number of horror movies to have a clear idea about which troupes and strategic decisions to avoid in order to survive horrible situations.  This film forces you to bet against the main characters of the story based on their personality traits and how they are portrayed.  One band member is an alpha male while the other two musicians are either laid back or risk takers.  How this plays out for those three characters is what gives the film it’s drive and also what causes it to be such a unique experience.

My favorite moment of the film overall is also the moment that makes me the most uncomfortable.  There is a scene in the film involving the exchange of an item and how the exchange occurs and the fallout of that trade will forever be one of my shocking experiences in the cinema that I have had this year.  Yes, it’s right up there with the demise of a certain beloved Star Wars character.

For those of you who happen to be fans of a great cat and mouse game this film is right up your street.  I cautiously recommend Green Room because it does so much to surprise any audience that enjoys a good thriller and whether I like it or not that is the worst/best game of cat and mouse I’ve seen screened in the cinema so far this year.